"Callie! Did you find him?" Kirishima called as Callie returned to the chalet.
Still in shock, she simply nodded and retreated indoors. She didn't want to have to face anyone.
It didn't take long for her need to be alone to be interrupted, however.
"Callie? What's wrong?" Russ' voice called quietly into the chalet. His warm eyes found her as she sat, hunched over in a chair in the furthest corner of the room. "Something happen?"
He approached her carefully, then took a seat beside her after pulling up a chair. "Callie?" He tried again gently. His soft voice caused the tears she had been holding back to spill from her eyes. As she began to cry silently, Russ flustered to wrap an arm around her.
"Oh, hey! What happened, Callie?" He cooed, cradling her.
She sniffed as she rested her head against his shoulder. For a moment, he simply let her cry, tenderly stroking her hair with his hand.
At that moment, Kirishima and Bakugo walked in. When their eyes fell upon the scene and the realisation of what they had just walked into set in, they also pulled up chairs.
"Hey, Callie. Tell us what's wrong!" Kirishima encouraged. Bakugo merely watched on with his arms folded over his bare chest.
"I saw Sam..." She croaked, her brain still trying to process the images she'd witnessed;
Sam with his hands on the girl's shoulders...
The petite blonde leaning into him...
Her lips at his ear...
His quiet hiss, "this has to stop..."
Callie sniffed hard again, "...with another girl."
But what did he mean, 'this has to stop?' Who was she?
The hand that had been stroking her halted as Russ froze in surprise.
"What?" He exclaimed.
She lifted her chin to face him, his brows were furrowed in confusion. "I saw Sam with another girl. When I went to look for him at the store. He was...they were..."
But Russ was already shaking his head. Although it was Kirishima who spoke first when Callie trailed off.
"It can't have been what it looked like. Sam would never-"
"Yeah..." Russ piped up, "Sam's not like that. Never has been."
Callie wanted to believe them. But she knew what she'd seen.
"But, she was all over him!" She moaned, wiping her tears. "And he didn't pull away. He-"
"I gotta agree with Kirishima." Bakugo grunted, studying Callie with narrowed eyes. "I doubt it's what it looked like. Sam isn't one to mess around."
"Yeah Callie..." Russ added, his hand returning to its stroking motion. "Ever since you moved in, Sam's been crushing on you, hard!" His face pulled into a smile, "There's no way he'd risk losing you after you've only just started dating."
Callie knew they boys were talking sense. After all, she wasn't 100% sure what exactly she had witnessed. She knew she at least needed to hear what Sam had to say before holding anything against him. Yet, as the image replayed itself in her mind over and over again, she felt her heart ache.
"And if the dork is treating you like shit, I'll gladly punch those stupid glasses off his face." Bakugo smirked, bearing his teeth.
Russ shot him a glare which he responded to with a lift of a shoulder. "What? Like it will ever come to that. We all know the nerd isn't playing away."
Kirishima slapped a hand on Callie's shoulder and gave it an amicable shake. "Exactly! C'mon, Callie! Cheer up! Let's wait til he gets back and you can see what he has to say for himself, hm?"
With a weak smile and a wipe of her face, Callie managed a nod and let the boys escort her back onto the terrace. Russ made sure to sit close to her while they all listened to more of Jirou's more upbeat tunes. Many of the group were singing along, oblivious to Callie's shift in mood. Touya was chatting with Camie on the sand, their backs turned to them. Callie wondered what Sam's best friend would have to say is she mentioned what she'd just seen to him. But she couldn't bring herself to talk. Instead, she remained quietly by Russ' side while she waited for Sam to return.
But he never showed.
After several attempts at trying to reach his brother on his phone, Russ decided it was best to take Callie home. She had grown increasingly more upset as the night drew on. When the others in the group questioned Sam's disappearance, many of them suggested he had simply gone home and taken one of his trademark naps. Bakugo and Kirishima, on the other hand, exchanged knowing glances that they avoided throwing Callie's way. Did they now begin to suspect something was going on too?
After bidding the group farewell and leaving them to enjoy the rest of their night, Russ and Callie took a quiet drive home. Half way through their journey, Russ had turned off the radio as it began to play a sad song, and reached for Callie's hand.
"Don't worry, Callie. I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding."
And she did her best to try and believe him.
They rode the elevator up to their level in silence. They walked the corridor to their apartment in silence. And when they pushed open the door to reveal Sam sat on the couch with his head in his hands, they all stood in silence.
Sam turned his head to the sound of the front door closing behind them.
"Heya," He greeted, smiling sympathetically. "I was gonna text you, but I left my phone in my bag."
The bag in question was placed on the table top by Russ, who glanced awkwardly from one roommate to the other.
"What made you come home?" Callie asked, and Russ took that as his cue to duck into his bedroom.
Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"It's...a strange story." He grumbled, pushing to his feet. He walked over to where Callie stood and made to wrap his arms around her but she stepped out of his reach.
He frowned.
"I'm listening." Callie pressed, arms folding across her chest.
Sam furrowed his brow at her tone, eyeing her cautiously. "I ran into someone. Someone I didn't want to see-" he told her.
"Who was she?" Callie cut in, unable to hold back the words she'd been wanting to ask him the moment she'd seen them together.
"You...you saw us?" Sam asked, hands finding his pockets. "Is that how my wallet got there?"
Callie felt her teeth grind together. "Answer the question, please." She spoke, forcing herself to keep her voice steady. Her nails were digging into her palms.
Sam sighed and let his shoulders slump.
"Her name is Toga." He began, eyeing Callie's twitching lips with a look of guilt plastered onto his face. "She's Touya's crazy ex-girlfriend. She's kinda obsessed with him. She recently got out of prison and..." he paused to gauge Callie's reaction. When she simply continued to stare, he continued. "She's been looking to get back with him ever since. And every time she sees me, she tries to get me to tell her where he is."
Callie thought back to the two lines she had heard Sam speak; 'You're unbelievable, you know that,' 'this has to stop.'
She shuffled uncomfortably on her feet. Did she believe him?
"Then why didn't you just come back to the chalet?" She asked, her own shoulders slumping sadly.
Sam sighed, "I didn't wanna risk her following me back there. Honestly, Callie. The girl's nuts. I didn't want her to ruin everyone's night."
Then why did Callie's night feel like it had been ruined? She still couldn't get the image of their two bodies pressed together out of her head. Though she knew she believed Sam's story, the memory of what she'd seen still made her heart hurt.
"I'm sorry, Callie. I know what you're thinking. But it's not at all how it looks. I really-"
But he halted as Callie held up a hand.
"I believe you, Sam." She uttered. But rather than accept the hug that he offered her, she turned and headed for her room in silence. She hoped that, after a night's rest, the image of Sam and Toga would leave her mind and allow her to return to the way things were before bearing witness to it.
As she closed the door to her bedroom, she heard Sam softly bid her goodnight.
*
Sam had found it hard to sleep that night knowing that Callie was upset. He had spent most of the night staring at the lava lamp she had bought him and debating whether or not he should knock on her door. His better judgement told him it was best to leave her alone. If only his friend Touya had listened to his better judgement and stayed well away from that crazy, Toga chick. If he had, Sam would be laid next to his beautiful girlfriend, her longs legs gracing his under the sheets while she kissed him softly on the lips and ran her fingers through his hair...
Groaning, he rolled over to stare at the ceiling, quietly cursing his best friend. He thought back to the way Callie had kissed him on the beach. Pineapples and sunshine. Bronzed skin and seawater. Soft lips and yellow eyes...
But the memory of Callie's soft lips on his mouth turned into the memory of Toga's at his ear. Both hungry; one seductive, wanting him, the other crazed, wanting Touya. The vision of Callie's pretty, yellow eyes transformed into the vision of Toga's slanting, acid stare. Both the colour of sunshine; one gently warming, regarding him affectionately, the other intensely burning, peering at him dangerously.
At one point, both girls had their hands on him, pulling and pushing. Both were whispering, both were pleading for something. The strange dream caused him to toss and turn in his sleep. Restless and drowsy. Uncomfortably hot.
When he awoke the next morning, he was disappointed to see that he was home alone. Russ had text him earlier to let him know that he was heading to training, while Callie seemed to have left for class without any sort of goodbye. She was clearly still upset. And to be honest, he couldn't blame her. He could only imagine how difficult the scene must have been to witness. Then again, it had been even more difficult to endure, what with Toga having pressed the tip of her switchblade into his ribs as she whispered threats into his ear.
His fingers touched the spot where the metal had threatened to break the skin as he poured himself a strong coffee. Touya seriously owed him one.
As he drank his beverage as his tired eyes studied his timetable, he heard a loud knock at the door. Usually, it was only Undyne who knocked like that. But surely she wouldn't be visiting this early on a Monday morning?
As he stalked over to the door, he heard a message alert sound on his phone. A quick glimpse showed that it was Callie letting him know that she'd be home for lunch and that they could talk then. Instant relief washed over him. He sent a reply to her with one hand as the other opened the front door.
"Sam Gaster?" An unfamiliar voice said.
Sam looked up from his phone screen to see three tall men looming in the doorway. They were all dressed in black and white and the one who spoke had a thick accent that Sam couldn't place then and there.
"Who's asking?" He frowned, eyes hopping from one scowling face to the other.
"Are you, or are you not, Sam Gaster?" The man tried again.
Sam inhaled deeply then answered slowly. "Yeah..." He droned, eyes squinting behind his glasses. "And who are you guys?"
The twitch of a snarl and the crack of knuckles.
The next thing Sam knew, he was seeing stars.